फिल्मी पांडा कोई शख्स नहीं, बल्कि लेखक का किरदार भर है, जो अक्सर उम्दा सिनेमा को ग्रहण करने के बाद जिंदा हो उठता है। नतीजतन कुछ किस्से या समीक्षा की शक्ल में चीजें हासिल होती हैं।
Bob (Susruta Mukherjee) and Bobby (Saswata Mukherjee), two young animators from Bengal, suddenly came into the limelight last year when the whole of India watched their animation skills in 'Mask Khoya', a song by Vishal Bhardhaj's music label 'VB Music'. The song, which satirising the situation of the world's leading political figures handling the corona crisis became very popular. Bob and Bobby are also into political satire through their cartoons, which are in fact extremely sharp and surreal. Film Panda talks to Bob and Bobby for "Hilansh'. Here are excerpts from the conversation.
- Can you tell briefly about your experience working with Vishal Bhardwaj?
The experience of working with Vishal Sir was very rewarding. Especially because he has been one of the filmmakers from Bollywood we have always looked up to. And to have him acknowledge and appreciate our work felt surreal at times, especially when his team approached us and said he loved our animated short However since only the two of us did the entire video production together it was physically draining. We were animating all day and night for two months straight.
- What is the thought behind 'Mask kho gaya hai...'! Why so many political leaders there?
The concept of Mask Kho Gaya was a satirical take on everything that unfolded with the pandemic. What we saw other than the collective paranoia gripping the world was the political gimmick around a global crisis. Rather than actually making sustainable decisions a lot of political leaders were seen bragging about how they were dealing with the situation better. In India, an unplanned lockdown had thrown the community of migrant workers into chaos while in the US, a leader suggested injecting detergent to kill the virus.
- Tell me about the process
We made a synopsis with images, breaking down the lyrics of the song, and showed it to Vishal sir and his team. The initial synopsis was too dark and then we planned to make it a little more nuanced. After the second pitch was approved we created the storyboards and color palette options. Once these were approved we started animating straight away. There are a lot of sequences that were not originally there in the storyboards but improvised while animating. We were initially a little skeptical about it but Vishal Sir gave us full creative liberty to go wild and explore things our way.
- What was your (bob and bobby) first reaction when Vishal Bhardwaj calls you!
When Manpreet who was working with Vishal Sir then, told us that VB sir would like to connect over a zoom call, we were both excited and nervous. We aren't really tech-savvy and we were going to have our second zoom call with a filmmaker whose works we have admired over the years. We were starstruck and fumbling when we first talked with VB sir. At the same time, it was so heartwarming to see that an artist of his stature was so humble and down to earth. He made us feel comfortable and appreciated our works.
- How it changed your life?
The very experience of discussing a story with Vishal Sir is a life-changing one. It changed a lot of our approach towards storytelling.
- What is your next project?
We are currently working on the second draft of our script. We have plans to pitch it to producers once we finish the rewrite. Apart from that we are almost always working on some small project or the other. Most of them are to sustain ourselves and save enough before we move to Mumbai.
- What do you think about why Indian filmmakers can't produce animated films like Moena, Incredibles, etc.
I believe this was the case some 4-5 years back. But lately, a lot of mainstream production houses have been showing interest in animation as a medium of storytelling. A lot of independent animators are producing animated music videos, the scene will only get better with time I feel. But if you're specifically talking about 3D Animations like Moana and Incredibles, there's a long way to go. For that you need a huge team and of course time, just the pre-production takes around a year at least.
- If art also needs politics or without ideology, art is not possible, What do you guys think?
We strongly believe every art is political. Artists take inspiration from everything that is happening around them. It is reflected through their art in some form or the other. If the world is burning and I decide to tell that story through my art, that is a political commentary, and if I choose to turn a blind eye to it and maybe drawing a portrait of my cat, that has its politics too.
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